Master Settlement Payouts Squandered?

The 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), which requires the tobacco companies to pay out annually in perpetuity to bankroll tobacco control and cancer research programs seem to have gone up in smoke.

According to the American Lung Association's (ALA) annual "State of Tobacco Control" report, nearly all states, with the exception of Oklahoma, have diverted the money to their general funds, with their anti-tobacco programs underfunded and neglected.

The report revealed that for fiscal year 2018, less than 3% of the Master Settlement funds went to such programs. The ALA stated, "A couple of states have even in the past used it to benefit the tobacco industry," citing North Carolina, as an example for having used 75% of the funds for tobacco production.

Nearly 20 years after the states and tobacco companies came to an agreement, the tobacco companies have paid a staggering US$119.5 billion to the states and territories participating in the MSA and another US$25.4 billion to the four states with their own agreements.